I'll make it short.
Overall, I'm quite satisfied with nvidia support on linux.
but when it compares to intel. intel graphic chip on linux shows no hiccup.

black window bug(beryl): it doesnt affect my system that much. I have to open a LOT of windows (probably dozens different gui applications.) to have the bug show up.
A simple switch to kwin window manager solves the problem, then continue my work.
Anyway, it would be great if Nvidia gets the bug fixed soon.

Video tearing: when playing video with beryl running, video tearing is visible. when i switch to kwin window manager, the video tearing is less noticeable. but still visible on some fast camera panning scenes.
I believe with 'nv' driver it has no tearing issue. AND i'm sure that with old version of nvidia driver(no beryl) it shows no tearing in video either.
I really HOPE Nvidia can get this fix soon.

Any tearing while using a compositing manager is most likely due to the fact that the compositing manager is incapable of syncing to vblank, and not a driver bug. You stated that this problem was not present with the 'nv' X driver, however I don't see how you'd run a compositing manager with the 'nv' X driver as it lacks 3D acceleration.

current latest nvidia driver ( no beryl) (which is whatever non compositing window manager, in my case kde kwin) = still get minor tearing.
somehow I think it has something to do with the black window bug (lack of memory) just a guess . the bug is here. is a bug report able to show anything?
anyway, pls investigate and fix it.

i'm currently on release 11. no problem so far. virtual console switching works(under kwin of course). I read that 09 release has improved subpixel hinting "renderaccel" and I do notice fonts on my lcd are sharper, which makes font rendering on suse 10.2 even better

I am unable to use beryl/compiz because of the tearing issue. I had assumed this was a problem with beryl/compiz because they are beta. You are suggesting that this in an nvidia bug? Is there any chipset out there that allows smooth 1080i playback with compiz/beryl? I am building a new pc and was going to buy nvidia, but might change my mind based on this as I am more interested in video playback performance more than anything else.

I am unable to use beryl/compiz because of the tearing issue. I had assumed this was a problem with beryl/compiz because they are beta. You are suggesting that this in an nvidia bug? Is there any chipset out there that allows smooth 1080i playback with compiz/beryl? I am building a new pc and was going to buy nvidia, but might change my mind based on this as I am more interested in video playback performance more than anything else.

when using beryl, tearing is not noticeable anywhere but video playback. it's not as severe as ati(thats right it's ati...) but definitely visible.
when i switch to kwin (NO Beryl), minor tearing is visible on some scenes (camera panning, frames change...stuff like that on dvd, movie files...) it's not serious but still an issue.

on laptop, the best is intel, then nvidia.(intel means no serious gaming)
on desktop, we are pretty much stuck with nvidia simply because ati really sucks.

get used to it. linux will always be the second citizen when it comes to commercial support. it's not like linux has 90% of desktop market share, nor linux has it's proprietary hardware(mac cough)

kinda off topic anyway, i have experienced beryl on intel 855gm, 950 and gma3000 series.
beryl runs acceptably fast. as for hd, i can play 720p video on my laptop with gma3000 fine without beryl. never try 1080p though.
im not into the idea of media center pc. i prefer the new xbox360 hdmi + hd dvd drive
hdtv on linux? hdcp? bluray? good luck to you